AICPA News is a roundup of recent announcements from the American Institute of CPAs.
Onset of Mandatory Sustainability Requirements Begins to Impact Global Reporting, Study by IFAC, AICPA and CIMA Finds
The global sustainability reporting ecosystem is becoming less fragmented as more of the world’s largest companies begin to adopt or form plans to use the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs), an updated report from the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) shows.
The report, The State of Play: Sustainability Disclosure and Assurance (Six-Year Trends and Analysis, 2019-2024), is the sixth annual benchmark of sustainability reporting and assurance practices of global companies in G20 jurisdictions. Because the newest data in the report is from 2024, due to the typical lag for sustainability information, the results likely understate the extent of movement toward more uniform standards.
While global companies still use a patchwork of sustainability-related standards, the survey found progress in a number of areas:
A third of companies with sustainability information disclosures in 2024 referenced the use or future use of ISSB standards, compared to only 16 percent that did so the previous year. Turkey adopted the ISSB Standards beginning for fiscal year 2024 and several additional jurisdictions will implement ISSB requirements in reports that will be published in 2026.
Similarly, 20 percent of companies that disclosed sustainability information in 2024 said they used or plan to use ESRS, which suggests their implementation in the European Union may be having a cross-border impact.
Use of other standards and frameworks – the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and U.N. Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) – all fell by single digits between 2023 and 2024.
Among other highlights of the updated survey:
Ninety-seven percent of global companies had some form of disclosure of sustainability information in 2024, a percentage drop from the previous year.
Seventy-five percent of companies in the survey obtained assurance on their sustainability disclosures in 2024, up slightly from 73 percent the previous year. Most of the assurance performed was at a limited assurance level.
Audit firms continue to lead in providing assurance on sustainability disclosures by large global companies (59 percent of engagements, up four percentage points from last year), with broad variations country to country.
Seventy-six percent of companies reported sustainability information with financial disclosures in 2024 annual or integrated reports, up two percentage points from the previous year. Organizations that obtain assurance over sustainability information within their annual or integrated reports overwhelmingly use their statutory auditor to provide assurance over those disclosures.
Mexico, Singapore and Turkey all had large increases in the percentage of audit firms performing assurance on sustainability information in 2024. The United States, meanwhile, had just under a third (32 percent) of sustainability-related assurance engagements performed by audit firms, up four percentage points from the previous year.
CIMA applauds member appointed to senior financial services leadership role in Mauritius
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, congratulates its member, Mr. Nitin Ramphul, ACMA, CGMA, on his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Institute (FSi), the national capacity-building institution for the financial services sector.
This appointment highlights the growing influence of Chartered Global Management Accountants (CGMA designation holders) in driving organizational performance and shaping the future of the finance profession in Mauritius, across Africa, and globally.
AICPA Expresses Support for Bill to End Tax Penalties on American Hostages
In a letter to Representatives Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV) and Donald Beyer (D-VA), the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) commended the legislators’ bipartisan leadership in introducing H.R. 9496, the End Penalties on American Hostages Act. This bill would provide U.S. nationals who have been unlawfully detained or held hostage abroad with tax administration relief for them and their spouses.
The AICPA emphasizes the guiding principle of fairness, consistency and sound tax administration in its support for this legislation, noting that times of severe hardship such as these should be afforded broad tax penalty relief.
“The AICPA recognizes the overwhelming circumstances that American hostages and their families face – this bill is simply removing one more unnecessary obstacle and worry for our fellow Americans during an extraordinarily difficult time. This bill extends the same penalty relief to these families that is already available to victims of natural disasters and active-duty military, and the AICPA is proud to endorse this bill,” said Daniel Hauffe, Senior Manager for Tax Policy & Advocacy with the AICPA.
AICPA Signals Support for Taxpayer Assistance Legislation, Applauds Committee Approval of Bill That Includes Many AICPA Priorities
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has expressed its support of the bipartisan legislation to improve tax administration and reduce the burdens on taxpayers and their preparers and encourages the Committee to continue to pass additional tax administration proposals, such as the Simplify Automatic Filing Extensions (SAFE) Act.
The TAS Act was introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and addresses several important tax provisions that the AICPA has long-advocated for, including:
- Sec. 101. Digitization of Tax Returns and Correspondence
- Sec. 102. Establishment of Dashboard to Inform Taxpayers of Backlogs and Wait Times
- Sec. 103. Expansion of Electronic Access to Information about Returns and Refunds
- Sec. 104. Expansion of Callback Technology
- Sec. 105. Expansion of Online Accounts
- Sec. 108. Individuals Facing Economic Hardships Informed of Collection Alternatives
- Sec. 405. Operations to Assist Taxpayers Experiencing Hardships During Lapse in Appropriation
- Sec. 504. Authority to Deny, Revoke, or Suspend Preparer Tax Identification Numbers
- Sec. 902. Extension of Mailbox Rule to Electronic Submissions and Payments
Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.
Download this content today!
Register Now Already registered? Click here to Log In
Tags: Accounting, accounting news, AICPA, aicpa news, news
